Tears and Tears Go Hand in Hand

What's the worst sensation you can think of?

Got it?

Okay, imagine that times fifty. That's what separation is like. I hate it. Separation is a form of death that removes someone from reach, from association, communion, and communication. It may not be permanent, but how many times have you said good-bye to someone thinking that it was for a little while, maybe a month at most, maybe only a day... Never to see them again? I didn't think anything of it, the last time I saw Micah. But not too many days later, those last moments meant the world to me.

All this to say, I've done the whole life together, kingdom community thing. And the thing is, it's wonderful. Donald Miller and various other authors have said in one way or another that one of our deepest desires is "to be known and loved anyway." When you live and learn in close quarters, you get naked emotionally, spiritually, etc. in ways that are not even an option in most relationships, and it's a great feeling. Imagine skinny dipping. I've never done it, so I'm imagining with you, but I think of the delicious sense of risk, that spicy edge that makes the air tingle as it enters your lungs mixed with the tang of freedom stolen for a few moments. Do you dare? To be so exposed is to take a chance.

"But the nautical like all things fades..." and eventually everyone says good-bye. Sometimes it's forever. Literally. Who do you know who is not a Christian? When you bid them adieu, know that there is always the possibility that you will never ever see that person again in this life or the next. Suddenly every last second counts. Sometimes it's only for a day, a week, a month, a year, and then sweet reunion. But it's only a postponement of the inevitable longer separation.

To those of you who have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior: I am glad that He saved you. Someday I will shed no more tears over the space between us. To those of you who have not: I beg you to reconsider the decision you've made. I don't want to know that there will come a good-bye that will not be eventually followed by a hello, for that is a pain that knows no remedy.

Lions and Tigers and Bears

The Gospel is like a caged lion. It doesn't need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of its cage.
//Charles Spurgeon//

As we've been talking about evangelism this week, I am convicted by how little I actually speak the love of Jesus into a hungry world. I have spent years of my life learning apologetics, Biblical foundations for everything, and even how to walk in the power of the Spirit. But somehow, I have limited myself to encouraging people who are tired churchgoers, as if all that I have learned is just an emergency exit to be used in time of need.

God doesn't need me to defend His word. Somewhere in the Psalms, we are told to test the word, and when we actually do and live what it says to do and live, things happen. If people really question its effectiveness, hand them a Bible and tell them to test it out. But for them to ever take that step, there has to be the conversation that allows them to question and the handing that enables them to test. How many times do I strike up a conversation with someone I don't know about the weather much less the love of God?

When we declare [the Gospel], we give opportunity for people to come to the King to be saved. When we are silent, we have chosen to keep those who would hear away from eternal life.
//Bill Johnson//

We are Heaven's gatekeepers. Will you open the door?

Kick Drum Heart

There's nothing like finding gold
Within the rocks hard and cold
I'm so surprised to find more
Always surprised to find more


I won't look back anymore
I've left the people that do
It's not the chase that I love
It's me following you
{The Avett Brothers}

Dreaming Awake

Something that has been burning in my heart a lot over the past weekend is a desire to see lukewarm Christians catch fire for God. We took a little evaluation thing this morning that was supposed to indicate what influences our thought processes, and one of the categories on the scale was called "moderate Christianity." Something in me rebels at that word... moderate. Everything in moderation, but never our love for God. Let us be cautious in all things, but in this let us leap from the cliff tops and soar on wings like eagles.

We are like a race of sleeping giants who dream ourselves to be the weakest of men and never awake to know and walk in the power we were born with. When we pursue Him apathetically, we fail to realize the power we were born again to know. Jesus Himself said that we would perform greater works than His... What have you done lately?